Whew! What a game. That game was lost a dozen times before it was won. I think it entirely appropriate, however, that a Bartow 20th anniversary/600 win game be one of those scratch-and-claw, warm up the defibrillator kind of games. Wouldn't you agree?
Anywho, on to the observations:
1. Congratulations are in order to one of our fellow blazertalkers (or two). That was a goosebump-inducing rendition of the old Star Speckled Banana.
2. Congratulations are also in order to the students. You brought the bodies, and the noise. Don't think that doesn't matter. You influenced the game. That's why, when we talk of our team, we say "We".
3. T-Rod may leave the southside a legend, and I certainly hope he does, but, geez, young man, take care of the ball.
4. Darth Vaden's 3s when we were down 13 with 5 minutes to play saved us.
5. Lawrence Kinnard's poise saved us.
6. Howard Crawford's lust for the basket saved us.
7. AJ's fearlessness saved us.
8. PD3...Wait. You know how I define "gunslinger" in terms of sports? He's the guy who, when the game is on the line, wants the ball in his hands. Now, anyone who's ever played a sport imagines hitting the big shot, the big homerun, the big touchdown bomb to win the game, but most of just think we want to be that guy. Very few of us are actually mentally and emotionally built for seizing that moment and making it our own. Paul Delaney III is one of those few. God bless him. Speaking of whom...
9. In his post game interview with Steve Mitchell, Steve commented that it looked as though, early in the game, he was a bit tentative, testing out the ankle, before going full bore. Delaney said, "Yeah. Anytime you've been injured, you try to get a feel for it and see what it will do, but sooner or later, you gotta go out loud." I like that. I wouldn't mind that being this team's mantra. "Sooner or later, you gotta go out loud."
10. Speaking of Mitchell, those who listen to him know that, unlike a lot of color men, he's not one given to breathless hyperbole, but rather, pretty level headed. Listening to the post game show, he was clearly impressed.
A pretty win? Hell, aren't they all? Don't 5 points with 27 seconds in regulation, we win. Down 1 with 14.5 seconds left in OT, we win. USF shoots 44% from behind the arc, and win. The word for the day, friends, is composure. We won because we kept ours, and USF lost theirs.
A wise man once said, "Great teams aren't always great. They're only great when they have to be."
It's going to be a fun year. Get to know a good cardiologist.
That's all I got. For now. I think.
Smaug Wrote:Whew! What a game. That game was lost a dozen times before it was won. I think it entirely appropriate, however, that a Bartow 20th anniversary/600 win game be one of those scratch-and-claw, warm up the defibrillator kind of games. Wouldn't you agree?
Anywho, on to the observations:
1. Congratulations are in order to one of our fellow blazertalkers (or two). That was a goosebump-inducing rendition of the old Star Speckled Banana.
2. Congratulations are also in order to the students. You brought the bodies, and the noise. Don't think that doesn't matter. You influenced the game. That's why, when we talk of our team, we say "We".
3. T-Rod may leave the southside a legend, and I certainly hope he does, but, geez, young man, take care of the ball.
4. Darth Vaden's 3s when we were down 13 with 5 minutes to play saved us.
5. Lawrence Kinnard's poise saved us.
6. Howard Crawford's lust for the basket saved us.
7. AJ's fearlessness saved us.
8. PD3...Wait. You know how I define "gunslinger" in terms of sports? He's the guy who, when the game is on the line, wants the ball in his hands. Now, anyone who's ever played a sport imagines hitting the big shot, the big homerun, the big touchdown bomb to win the game, but most of just think we want to be that guy. Very few of us are actually mentally and emotionally built for seizing that moment and making it our own. Paul Delaney III is one of those few. God bless him. Speaking of whom...
9. In his post game interview with Steve Mitchell, Steve commented that it looked as though, early in the game, he was a bit tentative, testing out the ankle, before going full bore. Delaney said, "Yeah. Anytime you've been injured, you try to get a feel for it and see what it will do, but sooner or later, you gotta go out loud." I like that. I wouldn't mind that being this team's mantra. "Sooner or later, you gotta go out loud."
10. Speaking of Mitchell, those who listen to him know that, unlike a lot of color men, he's not one given to breathless hyperbole, but rather, pretty level headed. Listening to the post game show, he was clearly impressed.
A pretty win? Hell, aren't they all? Don't 5 points with 27 seconds in regulation, we win. Down 1 with 14.5 seconds left in OT, we win. USF shoots 44% from behind the arc, and win. The word for the day, friends, is composure. We won because we kept ours, and USF lost theirs.
A wise man once said, "Great teams aren't always great. They're only great when they have to be."
It's going to be a fun year. Get to know a good cardiologist.
That's all I got. For now. I think.
spot on, smaug. :clap2:
Great game.
LO putting up 20/12 is great. The three he hit towards the end was HUGE!
We outrebounded them 40-30 and 10-6 w/offensive boards. That is great to see considering the fact that they had pretty good size.
They have 2 players sitting out until Spring Semester. Mercer (from GA) and Gilchrist (highly rated prep player who has bounced around). Those two will make that team better and they will surprise some teams in the BE. By then end of the year that will be considered a quality win and I would guess they end up in the top 75 of the RPI
After NY it was nice to see us finish a game.
My favorite Steve Mitchell quote last night - when a Bull committed an offensive foul driving the lane that wasn't called, Mitchell said "He shoved him like he was a little brother"
tceaz Wrote:We outrebounded them 40-30 and 10-6 w/offensive boards. That is great to see considering the fact that they had pretty good size.
This our interior play surprised me the most tonight. I kept screaming at the team to get the ball to Lawrence and Howard in the post. While we were definitely outsized, I thought we had a big advantage down there (for once). Howard still needs to work on his defense though, but I guess he makes up for it with his free-throw shooting.
Speaking of Howard, it was good to see when he got hurt near the end of regulation, he stood up and sprinted down the floor to get back on D. I thought USF should have thrown the ball to whoever was being guarded by Howard because they would have scored or been fouled for sure. Instead they called a timeout and let us get him out. Thank you USF coaches!
Surprising stat of the year thus far is that Vaden is our second leading rebounder, with almost as many as Kinnard. He's averaging over 7 boards a game.
Although I was so mad last night I couldn't see straight, I did notice that Vaden has gotten much better at following his shot. I think he had about 2-3 rebounds off of his missed jumpers. He's also been more aggressive in taking it to the hole.
Quote of the night for me was during the post game show:
Mitchell was about to interview Delaney who was using a napkin to blow his nose. Thinking he may have gotten a bloody nose Mitchell asked, "Did you get in a fight or something?"
Delaney's reply: "No, it's a booger"
Speaking of Vaden, when did he decide to start passing up 3's?
LightEmUp70 Wrote:Quote of the night for me was during the post game show:
Mitchell was about to interview Delaney who was using a napkin to blow his nose. Thinking he may have gotten a bloody nose Mitchell asked, "Did you get in a fight or something?"
Delaney's reply: "No, it's a booger"
Were they on the air at that point? I was a the game still and heard that.
uabfanman Wrote:LightEmUp70 Wrote:Quote of the night for me was during the post game show:
Mitchell was about to interview Delaney who was using a napkin to blow his nose. Thinking he may have gotten a bloody nose Mitchell asked, "Did you get in a fight or something?"
Delaney's reply: "No, it's a booger"
Were they on the air at that point? I was a the game still and heard that.
Indeed they were.
Yeah, they were on the air.
Later on they asked him something and he was still talking about the booger. David Crane said something like, "And once is enough"
A little awkward there. It sounded like Crane was a little frustrated and getting on him.
iam4uab Wrote:Yeah, they were on the air.
Later on they asked him something and he was still talking about the booger. David Crane said something like, "And once is enough"
A little awkward there. It sounded like Crane was a little frustrated and getting on him.
Why? That is just good quality radio entertainment.
To quote Dr. Johnny Fever "BOOGER!"
iam4uab Wrote:Yeah, they were on the air.
Later on they asked him something and he was still talking about the booger. David Crane said something like, "And once is enough"
A little awkward there. It sounded like Crane was a little frustrated and getting on him.
I heard that too. Crane asked him a question about the game and Delaney was like, "People are still laughing, do I still have the booger?" and Crane came back with the "..and once is enough" comment. It was an awkward moment.
I don't know how Vaden thinks he's going to play in the NBA when he can't get open against a random average guard from USF. He literally disappeared last night until five minutes left in the game. And even then, the true crunch time player is PDIII. To his credit, Vaden played hard on defense and rebounded well. But that's not what he's in the game to do. He was making shots when he got them; he just couldn't get enough. Vaden gets all the ink, but where would this team be without Lawrence Kinnard?
We played great (or, at least, better than usual) on the interior last night against a big team, but what deeply disturbed me is what happened when AJ was out. TRod and Berrios combined for 1 point, 0 assists and 6 turnovers. And they were unacceptable, sloppy, "what the hell are you doing" turnovers. I don't know...maybe it was first home game eagerness to impress, but we looked awful for 35 minutes last night. We've got to figure out a way to play up-tempo under control. Because last night we were just running without purpose.
freeblazer Wrote:I don't know how Vaden thinks he's going to play in the NBA when he can't get open against a random average guard from USF. He literally disappeared last night until five minutes left in the game. And even then, the true crunch time player is PDIII. To his credit, Vaden played hard on defense and rebounded well. But that's not what he's in the game to do. He was making shots when he got them; he just couldn't get enough. Vaden gets all the ink, but where would this team be without Lawrence Kinnard?
We played great (or, at least, better than usual) on the interior last night against a big team, but what deeply disturbed me is what happened when AJ was out. TRod and Berrios combined for 1 point, 0 assists and 6 turnovers. And they were unacceptable, sloppy, "what the hell are you doing" turnovers. I don't know...maybe it was first home game eagerness to impress, but we looked awful for 35 minutes last night. We've got to figure out a way to play up-tempo under control. Because last night we were just running without purpose.
Yet we won.
Mission accomplished.
Freeblazer, maybe you save all this gold for when we lose our next game.
I don't think you noticed that vaden was 4-4 from the floor in the first half and he hit some key shots in both halfs to stop usf's runs.
And I know everyone thought trod played a bad game but I think he had the play of the game. After a miss by either ed or vaden when we were down 1, trod came up with a huge offensive rebound that led to the play where delaney drove and hit both clutch free throws. And guys, it was practiclly a road game for him considering he has never played a real game in our gym.
Vaden hit a couple of HUGE shots when we were down 13 late.
I specifically said he was making shots when he got them. And that's my entire point. 4-4 in the first half is not enough shots for Robert Vaden. And I know he hit some shots when we were down late. Again, that's my point; the offense needs to run through him ALL THE TIME. Why couldn't we get him a decent look until 5 minutes left to go when we were already down by 13? He wasn't even a threat on about 15 straight possessions in the late first half and second half because he couldn't get open.
I'm not saying it's all his fault. Frankly, we need to start running some double and triple screens for him if he can't get open otherwise because he's that important to our offense. Teams are scared to death of him from watching him on film. The point is...if Vaden is not even a threat (like what happened last night for an extended period), it's that much harder for everybody else to score. Even if he's not hot, the fact that he's getting looks and taking shots makes it easier for PDIII to penetrate and Lo to work off the opposite wing because practically everybody in the gym runs at Vaden when he starts to shoot.
Sorry I'm being cynical about it, and it was a great comeback win, but I'm just identifying troubling issues that can -- and should -- be fixed.